Another Marston Thrift Visit

I am very aware that the isolation rules are vital for everyone's ultimate survival and safety, so I limit my trips out and specifically do not venture out every day, and often not even every other day. I am careful not to flaunt the guidelines so, on those few times that I do venture out into the countryside nearby, I carefully choose areas that are not popular with the general Public, thus the few other humans I do come across are generally those exercising their dogs. The choice is easy because I am trying to seek out those spots where humans do not disturb the wildlife!
Yesterday was the most recent day I ventured out, and I left it late in the day specifically so that most will have considered heading back; this has a secondary result it means that the day following is definitely going to be one spent sitting in front of a computer, going through the images to weed out any failures, duplicates, or even the boring. As anyone who reads the narratives that I post on my blog will be aware, I am trying hard to understand the very different handling of mirrorless digital cameras to try to bring the success rate closer to that of the Single-lens Reflex cameras I have been using to date. Even though I have devoted a not inconsiderable time with initially a Canon EOS R mirrorless camera, I am now working with a very different beast – a Lumix FZ10002 which sports a Leica lens; the difficulty stems from the firmware being very different from my Canon cameras. Why then have I changed?
The purchase came about by pure happenstance, and it has proved very fortuitous as with the current lockdown, there is no way I could lug around my normal very heavy gear that requires the use of a seriously heavy tripod, unless I happened to live right on top of one of my normal venues. This little camera sports a permanently attached long range zoom lens, is completely portable, and produces very good quality images. I hope that when this lock-down is over I can still remember how to handle my Canon equipment.
I do have to own up to the main reason I have difficulty with this recent camera, and that is down to my age – it is far more difficult for me to learn the new intricacies, and I fear I am glimpsing a different future when this pandemic is over; going back to my Canon gear is going to be equally hard!
Upon my arrival at the Car Park at the entrance to the woods, there was no other car present, yet I could hear distant voices, so those must be others who walked, so most likely they were dog-walkers. Having parked, a family group whom I had passed along the road came in and took the right hand path, so I was happy with that as I had intended using the other. It was close on twenty minutes before I saw anyone along my chosen route and I was by then in open ground, and ironically I did not have to deviate from my chosen route, all those I saw chose different paths. I only came close to one person when I was at the very edge of the Park area at the island beyond, that had a splendid Weeping Willow at its water's edge.
I was luckier on this visit to have got some better shots of the grey squirrel I had seen on an earlier visit, I also got a brief glimpse of a lone Comma butterfly, only my second of this year, and a lonely Robin singing hopefully for a mate!